The new LG G4 gets newer available We’re getting a lot of questions from buyers in the United States, and as it stands, about the impressive new 5.5-inch smartphone. Those who have recently purchased the LG G4 will read on to learn how to change the default text app.
LG’s latest G4 smartphone has a big and bright screen, a powerful 6-core processor, one of the best cameras on any smartphone, and runs the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop. It’s a loaded smartphone, but Android beginners or first-time buyers should know how to change simple settings like text app.
Like many other manufacturers, LG has created its own text messaging app and installed it on the LG G4. It’s called “Messaging” and it’s a good practice. However, most stock apps aren’t very attractive, don’t have a lot of features, and are lacking when it comes to customization. That said, there are numerous 3rd party options you can download from the Google Play Store.
Unlike Samsung and others, the LG Messaging app has a few nice customization options in the settings, but it’s still pretty limited compared to the vast majority of apps available on the Play Store. Android users can quickly replace key components like text app, camera, calendar, gallery and more with alternatives, and below are a few of our favorite text apps.
When you replace your stock app with something from game store it can possibly be customized with themes or backgrounds, change the look of message bubbles and colors, customized font and much more. It all depends on what you choose to download and the link above details a few good options, then the guide below will help you replace the messaging app with something a little more useful.
Instructions
New to Android 4.4 KitKat in 2013 was a change that made it much easier to change text apps to something from the Play Store. There is a special option in settings that turns one on and off the other so users don’t get two notifications from both the stock app and the newly installed option. The LG G4 settings menu is somewhat fragmented, but still fairly easy to do.
First of all, you’ll want to go to the Google Play Store and download one of the many different third-party text apps. Textra is our favourite, GoSMS or Chomp is nice and a few people have linked our list above. Download one and you are ready. Some even change the default app settings for you or simply follow the steps outlined below.
Go to settings by pulling down the notification bar and tapping the gear-shaped icon, or find the settings app in the app tray. Once in the LG G4 settings menu, users will have to select the “” tab and then tap on “” or scroll down until they find it.
This will open a list of apps that can send and receive text messages on the LG G4. This will vary by carrier, as some, like Verizon, also install their own messaging apps. Here we have LG’s newly downloaded Textra app, Google Hangouts, and a text backup app for restoring messages from an old device.
From here, simply tap to select the preferred text messaging app for LG G4. Here we chose Textra and that’s it. This app will now be the default (and only) app that can send and receive messages, and the only app you’ll get notifications from.
Now users can long press the icon and drag new text apps to the home screen or the bottom bar with your most popular apps and you’re done. This will not affect who can send and receive your messages and everything will be fine out of the box.
Textra and most third-party apps offer tons of customization, font size and color, themes, balloon colors, and even custom notification icons, so go to settings and customize as you see fit. If you want to go back to the stock option, go back to settings > general > default messaging app > and select the regular app. It’s that easy.
Try any of the hundreds of different text messaging apps in the Google Play Store and enjoy a better text messaging experience on your new LG G4. Then check out our 30 LG G4 Tips and Tricks to learn more about your new phone.
